Lance A. Collins, 43, pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Prosecutors have agreed to recommend leniency and asked for a sentencing date at least 6 months away, which usually is an indication that a defendant is planning to cooperate.

The plea document contains standard language offering the possibility of a recommendation for additional sentencing reductions based on cooperation. Two co-defendants are scheduled to go to trial later this year.

Defense attorney Fred Helmsing Jr. declined to comment.

The plea agreement lists 7 condominium sales in Gulf Shores in 2006 and 2007 in which Collins or other members of the conspiracy submitted false information to mortgage companies. A Birmingham lawyer has filed 16 different lawsuits on behalf of property owners who agreed to hold “silent second” mortgages with Collins, with an estimated loss of $1 million. The attorney recently said information he has gathered indicates that Collins and others engineered at least 50 transactions in much the same way.

Collins founded and ran a company called Tradestone Industries, which also did business as Alabama Coastal Renovations, according to court records. He admitted that he defrauded mortgage lenders by submitting false loan applications and settlement statements to get money to purchase condominiums near the beach.

In a majority of those cases, according to his plea agreement, sellers agreed to hold second mortgages on the properties without the knowledge of the commercial lenders. “Straw purchasers” would fill out paperwork greatly overstating their net worth and falsely stating that they would make down payments. In fact, Collins and other members of the conspiracy provided money for the down payments, the plea documents states.

The buyers would receive a check at closing for approximately twice the amount of the down payment, which they then gave to Collins or others who had provided the down payment.

The plea documents states that Collins and Joan C. Teeters, a Realtor who also has pleaded guilty, paid the majority of the mortgages on the properties. After the real estate market tanked in 2007, however, they had trouble selling the condos for a profit. The lenders eventually foreclosed on them, leaving the sellers holding the second mortgages.

Trial is set next month for Collins’ sister, Melissa Gulledge, who is named as a straw buyer on 4 of the transactions in his plea agreement.

Another alleged straw purchaser, Marimanda Tillman, is scheduled to go to trial in October.